A study on the prosodic features in responses via English and the equivalent expressions in Vietnamese

A study on the prosodic features in responses via English and the equivalent expressions in Vietnamese Nguyễn Thị Việt Hoa Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: M.A. Nguyễn Thị Bích Ngọc Năm bảo vệ: 2010 Abstract: The study aims at prosodic features in responses via English and the equivalent expressions in Vietnamese. This paper includes three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion. Each part is the illustration of the researcher with an aim to prove and find out new things in linguistics. This is a kind of case study because it researches the responses in class setting. All the contributions were collected from data of interviews and observation. On the other hands, the thesis focuses on the analyzing of agreement and disagreement responses between teachers and students so that intonation, speech acts were taken into consideration. The results of the study were established in the last chapter in which all the questions and aims were done. Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Kỹ năng nói; Ngôn điệu; Ngữ điệu. 6 Content: TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF SYMBOLS vii LIST OF TABLES viii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Rationale 1 2. Aims of the study 1 3. Scope of the study 2 4. Method of the study 2 5. Structure of the study 2 PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4 1.1. Sentence and Utterance 4 1.1.1. Sentence 4 1.1.2. Utterance 5 1.1.3. Response as an utterance 6 1.2. Speech Acts 7 1.2.1. Classification of speech acts 7 1.2.2. Response as an act of speech 9 7 1.3. Prosodic Features 10 1.4. Intonation 10 1.4.1. Definition of intonation 10 1.4.2. Structure of intonation 11 1.4.2.1. The falling tune 13 1.4.2.2. The first rising tune 14 1.4.2.3. The second rising tune 14 1.4.2.4. The falling rising tune 15 1.4.3. Functions of intonation 15 1.4.3.1. The attitudinal function 16 1.4.3.2. The accentual function 16 1.4.3.3. Grammatical function 16 1.4.3.4. The discourse function 17 1.5. Summary 17 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 18 2.1. Context setting 18 2.2. Participants 18 2.3. Data collection 19 2.4. Research questions 19 2.5. Data analysis framework 20 2.6. Summary 20 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS 21 3.1. Findings 21 3.1.1. Differences in responses between teachers and students 21 3.1.2. Agreeing samples via English and equivalent expressions in Vietnamese 22 3.1.2.1. Teacher towards students 23 3.1.2.2. Students towards teacher 24 8 3.1.3. Disagreeing samples via English and equivalent expressions in Vietnam 26 3.1.4. The functions of intonation in responses 27 3.1.4.1. Intonation of agreement 28 3.1.4.1.1. The attitudinal function 28 3.1.4.1.2. The accentual function 29 3.1.4.1.3. The discourse function 30 3.1.4.1.4. Grammatical function 31 3.1.4.2. Intonation of disagreement 32 3.1.4.2.1. The attitudinal function 32 3.1.4.2.2. The accentual function 33 3.1.4.2.3. The discourse function 33 3.1.4.2.4. Grammatical function 34 3.2. Summary 34 PART C: CONCLUSION 35 1. Recapitulation 35 2. Limitations and suggestions for further study 36 REFERENCES 37 APPENDIX 1. I 9 LIST OF SYMBOLS 1. Symbol of stress: ' 2. Symbols of intonations - The glide down: - The glide up: - The take - off: - The Dive: 3. Tonic syllable: Underlined part in an utterance. 4. Utterance is pulled: 10 LIST OF TABLES Table Page Table 1. Agreeing samples of teachers towards students 23 Table 2. Agreeing samples of students towards teachers 25 Table 3. Disagreeing samples of teachers towards students 27 11 PART A: INTRODUCTION In this part, the rationale which explains the reasons for choosing this topic, the aims of the study which illustrates typical goals, the scope of the study which narrows down the research scale and the structure of the study which builds up a frame are established clearly. 1. Rationale Prosody plays an important role in communication. Through prosody, people can express their emotion state or sentiment tone. People can use prosody to show their attitudes such as happiness, sadness, anger, love or hate. However, during communicative process, it is easy to recognize that many speakers cope with problems in using prosody. They sometimes do not know exactly how to use prosody in speaking and even in some cases not understand the real meaning of utterances from speakers. Consequently, understanding and choosing suitable prosodies will fill in the gaps in communication. Moreover, choosing fitted prosodic features is necessary because this will help speakers in reaching their aims in communication. For example, speakers may raise their tone at the end of the utterance in asking instead of using question words as in: ''While the teacher is teaching, students can talk''. One more reason for choosing responses as the topic of the study is that response is a factor in communication that helps speakers or hearers go on the conversation, depending on the way they response to the others. We hope that the study not only contributes a small part in the success of each conversation but also can be considered as the ground stage for further researches. 2. Aims of the study Due to the study is limited in the context of classroom in general and prosodic features in responses between the teachers and students in particular as stated in scope of the study, therefore, the goals of the study are as follows: * To find out the similarities and differences in the responses between teacher and students in context of a class. * To look at the way how teachers and students express their responses showing agreement and disagreement in classroom context. 12 * To find out the prominent intonation strategies preferably used in agreeing and disagreeing responses by teacher and students. 3. Scope of the study The study investigates responses in the level of speech acts. There are many kinds of responses such as responses to a letter, responses to a question, responses to an invitation and so on. Nevertheless, this study focuses on responses of teachers and students in showing agreements and disagreements. In addition, the study examines chiefly prosodic features in which intonation in utterances will be paid attention. Moreover, due to the limitation of time, ability as well as knowledge, the research context chosen is in English classes in grade 11 at Ischool Hatinh where the researcher observes and describes mostly the actions and responses between teacher and students. 4. Method of the study The study bases on quantitative research, which is to determine the relationship between one thing and another. Quantitative research designs are either descriptive or experimental, which means that we use personal observation and facts to form general rules. The participants of the study include teacher and students at Ischool Hatinh high school. 5. Structure of the study The study is divided into three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion. Part A. Introduction: As many other studies, this part introduces briefly the rationale, aims, the scope, methods and organization of the study. Part B. Development This part includes three chapters: * Chapter 1: Theoretical background This is an overview of the related theories. It also concerns the previous works and issues on speech acts and prosodic features. In each part, there are many sub-terms that explain Speech Acts theory, sentence and utterance, similarities and differences in the 13 responses between teacher and students, response as an utterance, definition of intonation, structures and functions of intonation. * Chapter 2: Methodology. This chapter introduces quantitative method as the main method for the research. In particular, it describes the research questions, participants, data collection and data analysis framework. * Chapter 3: Findings This chapter presents findings on intonation in agreeing and disagreeing responses of teacher and students in class context. Part C. 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York: Wellington House 36 Thomson, D (1996), Second Language Acquisition PPP-ITM : Mass Lecture 37 Wierzbicka, A (1987), English Speech Acts Verbs- A Semantic Dictionary Academic Press Australia 38 Yule, G (1996), Pragmatics Oxford: Oxford University Press Websites: 1 http://en.wikipedia.Org/wili/Intonation 2 http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Celik-Intonation.html . questions, participants, data collection and data analysis framework. * Chapter 3: Findings This chapter presents findings on intonation in agreeing and disagreeing responses of teacher and students. find out the prominent intonation strategies preferably used in agreeing and disagreeing responses by teacher and students. 3. Scope of the study The study investigates responses in the level. speech acts. There are many kinds of responses such as responses to a letter, responses to a question, responses to an invitation and so on. Nevertheless, this study focuses on responses of teachers